James Holzhauer made a strong return to the Alex Trebek Stage.
The quiz show champion, who racked up nearly $2.5 million in regular-season winnings due in part to his affinity for high-risk wagers, returned for ABC’s “Jeopardy! Masters” tournament, which kicked off May 8. The gambler proved exactly why he’s called “Jeopardy! James” − or “Jeopardy! Masters James” now.
The 10-episode tournament, hosted by Ken Jennings, pit “Jeopardy! James” against five other contestants who competed in last fall’s Tournament of Champions: Matt Amodio, Sam Buttrey, Andrew He, Mattea Roach and Amy Schneider, who walked away with the $250,000 grand prize. “Masters” offers a $500,000 pot. Schneider and Buttrey were eliminated in the first round; He was cut in the semifinals, which began Monday.
‘Jeopardy! Masters’ finals results
It all came down to Final Jeopardy!
Holzhauer, Roach and Amodio faced off in two games during Wednesday’s finals to see who would be victorious in ABC’s inaugural “Jeopardy! Masters tournament.” As points accumulated in early rounds were zeroed out, it was truly anyone’s game.
In the first finals match, Holzhauer took a strong lead, acquiring 34,314 points. Roach racked up 24,800 points and Amodio 12,000.
In Game 2, the Final Jeopardy! category was Latin in Literature, and the clue read: “A work by this 15th-century English writer quotes the phrase ‘Rex quondam Rexque futurus’”
Amodio entered the last round in third place with 3,200 points. At a loss for the correct answer, he made an attempt at humor by writing: “Who… will…win?!?!?!” He wagered nothing and ended with a combined total of 15,200 points. Holzhauer had 9,600 points going into Final Jeopardy! He incorrectly guessed T. H. White and lost 119 points, bringing his nightly total to 43,795 points. Roach (who uses gender-neutral pronouns), finished the first game with 22,800 points, and wrongly tried Geoffrey Chaucer. They lost 5,915 points, for a total of 41,685. (The correct answer was Thomas Malory.)
Holzhauer won the tournament by 2,110 points. He consoled the second-place Roach by paying tribute to their father, who died earlier this month.
“You played amazingly,” Holzhauer said. “Your dad’s so proud of you. Your mom, too.”
Mattea Roach mourns their dad: ‘He’s a huge part of the reason why I’m here’
Roach took time to pay tribute to their late father during a game Tuesday. Roach shared that their dad died in early May “very suddenly.” Production of the tournament was halted, and the finale taped only last week.
“He’s a huge part of the reason why I’m here,” Roach said. “He and my mom instilled an early love of geography in me. My dad taught me all about Turner Classic Movies and old music and all sorts of things. So I wanted to, in what might be my last game of the series, really recognize the impact that he had on my life.”
Roach learned their dad died while on the “Jeopardy!” set.
“Everyone who was at production, my fellow contestants, I could not have asked for better support going through what is the worst day of my life, pretty much, so far,” they said. “Everyone who made sure that I did not have to continue playing and was able to go home and be with my mom and my brothers, my whole family is so thankful for everyone here at ‘Jeopardy!’ for helping us through this really difficult time.”
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Who are the ‘Jeopardy! Masters’ contestants?
With the exception of Holzhauer, all “Masters” participants competed in the 2021-22 season, making them eligible for the 2022 Tournament of Champions. Holzhauer concluded his 32-game streak in 2019.
Last month, Holzhauer joked of the tournament lineup on Twitter, referencing a promotional image for the tournament: “This poster screams ‘We know you saw this tournament last year, but a new supervillain has joined the cast for the sequel!’ and I am here for it”
Contestants’ track records
Matt Amodio: Won 38 in-season games.Sam Buttrey: Won the “Jeopardy!” Professors Tournament; placed third in Tournament of Champions (winning one game).James Holzhauer: Won 32 games in-season games.Andrew He: Won 5 in-season games, placed second in Tournament of Champions (winning two games).Mattea Roach: Won 23 in-season games.Amy Schneider: Won 40 in-season games; winner of 2022 Tournament of Champions.
What does the winner get?
The allotment cash prizes are broken down below. The winner of the inaugural Masters tournament will also be awarded the first Alex Trebek trophy, which has been created just for this competition.
- 1st: $500,000 and the Alex Trebek trophy (Holzhauer)
- 2nd: $250,000 (Roach)
- 3rd: $150,000 (Amodio)
- 4th: $100,000 (He)
- 5th: $75,000 (Schneider)
- 6th: $50,000 (Buttrey)
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‘Jeopardy! Masters’ ‘does not disappoint’
Buzzy Cohen, a 2016 competitor who triumphed in the Tournament of Champions the following year, attended games during the “Masters” tournament. Cohen, who hosts a new podcast detailing the history of the quiz show, says he observed the contestants experience a sense of ease.
“One thing you start to see is the more time that people have spent on the ‘Jeopardy!’ stage, the more relaxed they are, the more fun they have,” he says. “That doesn’t mean the competition is less intense; it just means, ‘I’m not white-knuckling it through this. I know I can win here.’ And you have six people who have won so much and had a blast doing it.”
“Everybody kind of shines, and everybody is challenged,” Cohen adds. “And that’s exactly what you want out of one of these special tournaments. It does not disappoint.”
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